Oranje put through their paces again

Simon Zwartkruis
Voetbal International
Wednesday 15 October 2008

Every generation of Dutch internationals gets the rows it deserves.

In the seventies there was a severe struggle within the Dutch national team between the players of Ajax and PSV.

The Amsterdam circle - led by Johan Cruyff - couldn't stand the delegation from Eindhoven and the sentiments were very much mutual.

After the dust clouds had settled Jan van Beveren and Willy van der Kuijlen had disappeared from Oranje.

Big personalities drive a very hard bargain.

It would take 20 years before the Dutch national team would again be consumed by internal bickering.

At Euro 96 Edgar Davids vented his gall on Holland boss Guus Hiddink, which earned him a one way ticket to Amsterdam.

That too was some commotion with iron characters in the leading roles.

Ten years after the Amsterdam-Eindhoven antipole from the seventies threatened to surface again.

Several players with a PSV background showed an increasing disgust of Van Basten's rock solid faith in Ajax players.

In the eyes of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mark van Bommel they were judged mainly on their shortcomings, whereas players such as Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder had an infinite amount of credit with Van Basten.

Van Nistelrooy even had an expression for it: the 'I like you-factor'.

Van Bommel saved himself the trouble and simply refused to play under Van Basten ever again.

Three months after Bert van Marwijk has started as Holland manager his clean slate has been stained already.

Just like it was the case in the previous rows with the Dutch national team ego's are involved, but that's where all comparison stops.

The reason for and the way in which Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie addressed each other last week was nothing other than childish.

As were the positions taken by the big daily newspapers.

De Telegraaf took the side of Sneijder, the Algemeen Dagblad took the side of Van Persie.

That seems a matter of secondary importance, but it isn't.

The reporting of De Telegraaf caused the first irritation between the two best Dutch players.

A day after a secluded training session during Euro 2008 the daily splashed out with a story about a Van Persie assault on Sneijder.

Later it turned out it had been no more than a little push while challenging for a lose ball.

But Van Persie made it very clear that he wasn't amused by this kind of reporting, even more so because the teams code of honor - problems stay indoors - was broken for it.

It was all the more astonishing that last week the dirty laundry was out in the open in all it's glory again.

Van Marwijk manfully tried to trivialize the controversy, but deep inside the new manager will know that there is more to it than just a division about a free kick against Russia at Euro 2008.

Oranje are put through their paces once again, as they have been so often over the past decades.

After the silent return of his son-in-law Mark van Bommel, Van Marwijk now faces a much harder challenge: determine the new hierarchy within his team.

And that's a thin line to walk.

Perhaps Van Marwijk should let his assistants Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu and even the returned Edwin van der Sar do the talking.

They are all grown up men who have earned the right to speak.

From their experiences between 96 and 98 they know how to broaden the line and get this thing out of the way.